Lebanese parliament re-elects Berri as speaker: Reuters count

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Shi’ite politician Nabih Berri won at least half the votes in Lebanon’s parliament on Wednesday, securing his re-election as speaker for the sixth time since 1992.

FILE PHOTO:Lebanese Parliament Speaker and candidate for parliamentary election Nabih Berri casts his vote at a polling station during the parliamentary election in Tibnin, Lebanon May 6, 2018. REUTERS/Aziz Taher/File Photo

The lawmakers took office after a parliamentary vote on May 6, the country’s first since 2009.

Berri, 80, heads the Amal Movement and has been a close ally of the heavily armed Shi’ite Hezbollah since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.